Back in 2008, Dan and Becky bought us a Thomas the Tank Engine (Tomy) trainset. We played with it a few times but there wasn’t much we could buy to expand it. Then we went to Osaka this year and we discovered that Tomy makes an entire universe of toy trains called Plarail. So we went shopping at Aeon Rinku Town Mall (southern Osaka) and picked up this train along with a few more tracks. I think we’ll be asking Santa to increase out Plarail collection at Christmas time.

In real life…

The 500 series is a Shinkansen high-speed train type operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen and Sanyō Shinkansen lines in Japan. They were designed to be capable of 320 km/h (199 mph) but operated at 300 km/h (186 mph), until they were finally retired from the primary Nozomi service in 2010. The trainsets were then refurbished and downgraded to the local Kodama service between Osaka and Hakata.

The general design concept was overseen by German industrial designer Alexander Neumeister. The running gear utilizes computer-controlled active suspension for a smoother, safer ride, and anti-yaw dampers are fitted between cars for improved stability. All sixteen cars in each original trainset were powered, giving a maximum of 18.24 MW (24,460 hp). Each train costed an estimated 5 billion yen, and only nine were built.

For new people who will be coming
Please bring a bottle of
Single malt scotch to share.
If scotch is not your thing,
Well bring beer or wine and have a good time.

Hello All,
The Mercers (Craig, Kana, Yuki and Haku) are planning on coming to Osaka for a visit! Kana and the kids will be arriving on Friday, September 2nd and Craig will be arriving on Saturday, September 17th. We’ll all be heading back to Canada on Saturday, October 25th. We are looking forward to visiting with all of our friends and family. Below is our itinerary so you can see when we might be free to hang out and catch up. Mata ne!